Bloody Roar 2
Bloody Roar 2, is a brawler video game developed by Eighting/Raizing in 1999. (Also known as'' Bloody Roar 2: Bringer of the New Age'' in Japan/Europe and Bloody Roar 2: The New Breed in the United States.) __TOC__ Plot "Zoanthropes... '' Beings possessed of animal strength and human intellect. Their existence has been the stuff of legend since the dawn of human history. As technology advances, genetic scientists gain the ability to awaken the beast-like powers that lie dormant in human genes. The giant multinational Tylon corporation secretly plots to reap huge profits by exploiting these superhuman abilities. Opposing Tylon is a group of renegade zoanthropes fighting for the dignity of their kind. This fierce struggle shocks the world. ''Although they succeed in thwarting the evil plans of Tylon, the zoanthropes unwittingly withdraw worldwide attention to their existence and their amazing abilities. '' Fear and envy among ordinary humans soon lead to prejudice and oppression against zoanthropes. Thus persecuted, the zoanthropes look for hope in a newly formed underground organization: The Zoanthrope Liberation Frontor ZLF. ZLF followers, claiming to fight for zoanthrope rights, use their exceptional combat skills as zoanthropes to overwhelm the forces of the human world. However... The world learns too late that the ZLF is actually a terrorist organization convinced of zoanthrhope superiority and advocating global rule by zoanthropes. Indiscriminate violence claims the lives of many innocent people. The ZLF even targets its supposed brethren, punishing or abducting zoanthropes who refuse to collaborate. As the rift between human and zoanthrope widens, total chaos and destruction seem inevitable. Now, more than ever, the world needs new leaders to bridge the gap, heal the wounds, and create a new era of peace." Five years have passed since the collapse of the Tylon Corporation. The Zoanthropes' mutiny in the original Bloody Roar destroyed the powerful multi-national organization. But the Zoanthropes' inhuman dealings with their victims caused worldwide revolt. The Zoanthropes rightfully earned their name as "enemies of the human race". Hostilities beween humans and Zoanthropes exploded. Reports of Zoanthrope hunts and their toll in human life flooded the news. Reacting to the bloodshed, a group emerged that supported the Zoanthropes. They called themselves the "Zoanthrope Liberation Front " (ZLF) and declared war on the hunters. But the Front's terrorist tactics raised suspicion. Rumors began leaking out that the Front secretly kidnapped Zoanthropes and held them hostage. Shina, a leopard zoanthropes and Gado's adopted daughter, persuades herself that her foster father is the ZLF leader, or the "Alpha", behind this conspiration. They finally understand the true ZLF leader is Shenlong, Long's clone created by the mad scientist Busuzima. After multiple fights and a Long intervention, Shenlong discovers his true nature and dissolves the Zoanthrope Liberation Front before he dismembers himself. Gameplay If Bloody Roar 2 retakes the gameplay of his predecessor with some new features appear as well as some are now gone. The principal addition from Bloody Roar 2 to the franchise is the Beast Drive, a devastating special attack unique for each fighters. For use it, the fighter as to be in Beast mode. The Beast Drive uses up the entire Beast Gauge and reverts back the fighter into his human form once the move finished. The Beast Drive is accompanied by remarkable animations as the battle zones change their colors and details and as the fighters uses, generally, long and brutal combos. The fighters can now use Guard Breaks attacks, highlighted with a gold burst, that allow a follow up attack after breaking the opponent's guard. In addition to the guard system of the first installment, there is now a Heavy guard that can be used to block various attacks, even Guard Breaks attacks, but it comes with the cost of being enable to escape. Bloody Roar 2 also removed the Rave system from the first installment and put a different transition between the rounds, now when one of the fighters is defeated, the two opponents are automatically put in the same place as the debut of the first round as opposed to the previous game where the two fighters did not move between rounds. Game Features * Arcade * VS (Versus) * Story * Survival * Watch * Custom * Options Characters & Locations | |} Reception Bloody Roar 2 received generally positive reviews from critics. The game has sold 460 000 copies around the world, the highest sales in the series. Its biggest competitor around its release date, Street Fighter Alpha 3, has sold 1.03 millions of copies. Doug Perry of IGN said that "What the game lacks in history and originality, it makes up for in a deep combo-laden fighting system, exquisite graphics, and layers of gameplay modes that few games offer." Johnny Liu of Game Revolution concluded that "Bloody Roar II is a game that you just don't want to spend that much time with. It's fine for a try or two and nothing more. While good enough, Bloody Roar II isn't anywhere near the best. James Mielke of GameSpot said that "if you never picked up the first game, Bloody Roar 2 is still a good game, with a much better cast than the first one. However, in contrast to the original American version of BR1, Bloody Roar 2 is a marginal improvement that still suffers from second-best status due to the exclusion of integral gameplay elements that should never have been messed with. The game is a major disappointment for such a promising series." Response to the graphics and design was mostly favorable. Perry noted that the game's high-resolution graphics "sharpen and crystallize the polygonal, textured-mapped characters" and proclaimed that this brought the game "into the top tier of best-looking PlayStation games." He added that the animal designs "are all bizarre, lean toward a Japanese sensibility, and are exquisitely designed, both in their tight programming, and in the level of texture details, shape, and movement." Liu stated that while the game is graphically sharp, "it employs minimal animation outside of the characters." He said that the animal designs "do look pretty good, although the human counterparts could use some work," and compared the appearance of the Stun character's beetle form to "a bulked up Unit 01 robot from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion". Mielke considered the game to be "as gorgeous as the first installment - in fact, it looks almost exactly the same, with beautiful light-sourcing, speedy 60fps action, and all sorts of special effects when switching into beast mode." The sound and music was met with mixed response. Perry said that the sound effects were "as good if not better than last year's game," but called the music "truly uninspired" and compared it to "a series of generic riffs extracted straight from the bad heavy metal of the dour mid-'80s." Liu was critical of the voice-acting, noting that "most of these guys sound just sound wrong" and that "the announcer is completely devoid of excitement; instead of getting pumped up for an exciting match, I felt more pumped up to go do something else... anything else." His response to the rest of the audio was more middling, saying that the sound effects are "good, but nothing new" and the music "isn't very impressive -- typical fighter fare, with a few choice selections, funneling down to some bothersome noise."Mielke positively described the voice-overs and sound effects as "really well done". Promotion tumblr_m8cl6aqERi1qd4q8ao1_500.jpg Bloody Roar 2.png tumblr_mwreocmhtm1r6pjato1_500.jpg tumblr_mwreocmhtm1r6pjato3_r1_500.jpg tumblr_mwreocmhtm1r6pjato2_500.jpg tumblr_n5eja2Hl3V1snhn1io1_1280.jpg Packaging Artwork BR2NAfront.jpg|PlayStation NA Release BR2NAback.jpg|PlayStation NA Release (back) Bloody-Roar-2-US-SCUS-94424-CD.png|Playstation NA Release (CD) BR2JAPfront.jpg|PlayStation JAP Release BR2JAPback.jpg|PlayStation JAP Release (back) Bloody-Roar-2PlayStation-JP-SLPS-01842-CD.png|Playstation JAP Release (CD) BR2PALfront.jpg|PlayStation PAL Release BR2PALback.jpg|PlayStation PAL Release (back) Bloody-Roar-2-PlayStation-EU-SLES-01722-CD_s.png|Playstation PAL Release (CD) Official Artworks ''See: Bloody Roar 2 (official artwork) Unlockables *'Gado, Custom Option' - Beat the Arcade mode once. *'Shen Long' - Beat the arcade mode without continuing. Then you'll face him, beat him. *'Get Movies and Pictures' - To get all the pictures and movies just beat the Story Mode with every character at difficulty level 4 or higher. *'Model Type Option' - Complete the Story mode. *'Recovery Speed Option' - Complete the Story mode without continuing. *'Any Cancel Point Option' - Defeat fifteen or more characters in Survival mode. *'Extra "Start" Costume' - Complete the Arcade mode with all characters. *'Dash mode' - Beat the story mode with Shen Long. Triva *Bloody Roar 2 has the most new fighters with seven playable characters not present in the previous installment. External Links FAQ on Game Radar Category:Games Category:Bloody Roar 2